dust devil

English

a dust devil

Alternative forms

• dustdevil, dust-devil

Etymology

From dust +‎ devil.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /dʌst ˈdɛvəl/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

Noun

dust devil (plural dust devils)

1. A small atmospheric vortex appearing in clear, dry conditions, made visible by swirling dust (or dirt or sand) picked up from the ground.

   Synonym: dirt devil

   Hypernyms: spout, vortex

   Coordinate terms: landspout; waterspout; thermal; tornado

   Near-synonyms: whirlwind, whirl, sandspout, sand pillar, willy willy (Australia)

   A dust devil may look harmless, but a large one can overturn a car.

Related terms

• devil
• dust bowl
• duststorm
• fire devil
• steam devil

Translations

a swirling dust in the air

• Catalan: remolí de sorra, dimoniet, follet (ca) m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 塵暴 / 尘暴 (zh) (chénbào)

• Danish: støvhvirvel c
• Dutch: stofhoos (nl) f, stofduivel (nl) m
• Finnish: pölypyörre (fi)
• French: tourbillon de poussière (fr) m
• Galician: remuíño (gl) m
• German: Kleintrombe f, Staubteufel (de) m
• Greek: ανεμοστρόβιλος (el) m (anemostróvilos), σκονοδιάβολος (el) m (skonodiávolos)
• Hindi: बवंडर (hi) m (bavaṇḍar)
• Hungarian: porördög
• Indonesian: langkisau (id), lesus (id), setan debu
• Japanese: 塵旋風 (じんせんぷう, jinsenpū), ダストデビル (dasuto debiru)
• Korean: 회오리바람 (ko) (hoe'oribaram)
• Latin: vertigo f, vortex m
• Macedonian: прашински виор m (prašinski vior)
• Navajo: náátsʼǫ́ʼoołdísii
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: støvvirvel (no) m

• Plautdietsch: Wintkjriesel m
• Polish: trąba pyłowa f
• Portuguese: redemoinho (pt) m, pé-de-vento (pt) m
• Russian: пылево́й вихрь m (pylevój vixrʹ), пы́льный вихрь m (pýlʹnyj vixrʹ), песча́ный вихрь m (pesčányj vixrʹ)
• Spanish: torbellino de polvo m, remolino de polvo m, tolvanera (es) f
• Swahili: kimbunga (sw)

See also

• cyclone
• hurricane